Any old time RVers around?

[jaycocreek]

Hello from Idaho.

I was wondering how many true old timers we have here..Back in the day before even the Camper special or any factory tow packages.We learned from experience about what would my truck take or how much we could safely pull...

Sometimes these weight threads boggle my mind assuming a few hundred pounds will turn into a disaster.

Times have really changed since then and for the good,in my opinion.As rver's we should be very happy we don't have to buy a new or used truck only to modify it to pull a RV.

Some of the half ton trucks of today are equal or better than the 3/4 ton trucks of the 60's and 70's and it goes up from there.....

All you RVers have a happy new year!

[westend]

As a little guy, we had the backseat of the '55 Ford. My skin is still itching,lol.

Tents were all we had until I was out of my folk's place. I then bought a series of old step vans and converted them to campers. Soon after came my first "Class B", a '58 Ford panel delivery. I still own two Cox tent trailers and, recently, The Hilton-'71 Starcraft Wanderstar, the pride of the fleet.:B

[Opie431]

In the late 40s we went camping with a homemade tent trailer that my father traded a row boat for. I have found no pictues of it.

[301TBS]

Enjoying the stories too! My first tv was a 68 Mustang 428, towing a 71 Coleman 480 tent trailer.
Never even considered tongue weight,gvw or anything else.
Young and foolish, but sure have a lot of great camping memories.

[PAThwacker]

Popup camping in the 70s, class c, trailers, diesel pushers until I started with my own family. Tents, popup, and hybrid. Camped in Maine to Florida, and criss crossed the country PA to California after college. Now its weekend camping with kiddos aged 2 and 5.

[cmarq]

I still feel ike a youngun at 70 started in 1969 with a pop up then 4 different TT's a class c and now a class A. Can't wait for spring to get going again

[SuperiorBound]

I sure am enjoying all these wonderful memories

[gmw_photos]

The oldest "towed RV" I used was the old Apache Eagle pop-up that my brother and I bought. Towed it with my '67 Chevelle. That car had the worst brakes ( drums all around ) that I have ever owned ! Young and stupid....towed that danged pop-up with it's little 4.80-8 tires at 70+ mph all the time.

[grampachet]

Began RVing in 1968 with a 1964 Datsun 1300cc pickup with cabover camper towing a 15' Starcraft ski boat. I traded my 56 T Bird for the Datsun. (I didn't know any better!)

We have now progressed through 3 motorhomes, two slide in campers, one popup tent nightmare, (so small that if you wanted to change your mind you had to go outside).
Next was a 28' Holiday Rambler TT for a year.
Then up to a 33' Holiday Rambler Presidential 3000 TT.
April 1st, 2005 (should have seen that one) we aquired the 2000 28' Wildwood 5ver by Forest river.
After looking for 2 years we found the Montana 3000RK. We are now the proud owners of a 2008 Montana 3000RK as of Feb 28, 2008.

Served in Vietnam 64-66 on board USS Galveston CLG3, OL Division as a lookout.

Sold the beautiful '93 Dodge 3/4 DSL reg cab, LB, 4x4 rough riding noisy pulling machine and got a quiet smooth running '04 F-250 KR,CC,SB,4x4,SRW,V-10,3.73 and love it.

[Ole_Man_Dan]

I started Tent Camping in the mid 60s.
We towed a small utility trailer behind a 6 cyl. Rambler Station Wagon.
When the seats were let down in the old Rambler, it looked like a Bowling alley. Huge.
We bought a tent from Sears that slept 6...
We loaded down the trailer with coolers and sleeping bags.
Great times.

[69_Avion]

fordsooperdooty wrote:
Old timer RVers? If you are referring to the Worlds Oldest RVer...it is Thomas Burnblatt of Pacoima California..at 115 years old. He started out as a teenager driving his parents Conestoga wagon out to California from Tennessee in the 1900's. He currently owns a 1931 Lazy Daze Class C motorhome with 2.7 million miles.





😉

It is hard to beat that one.

I remember my dad and grandfather picking up the new 1969 Avion C-11 from the dealer. They put it on a 1966 Chevy 3/4 ton truck. It really put the hurt to that truck. My Grandfather bought a 1970 1 ton GMC cab and chassis and had a custom utility bed made for the truck and camper. It was a nice rig, but the truck wasn't a 4x4. The next truck was a 1977 Chevy 1 ton dually 4x4. I think that was the first year for the 4x4 dually and it made a nice rig for that camper. I can remember taking it up some steep, rocky hills in 4x4 low and the tires having chunks of rubber ripped off of them. Back in those days, a 1 ton truck only had a GVW of 10,000#. My next 4x4 dually was a 1994 Dodge Cummins diesel which was a great rig. As I recall it was rated at 11.000# GVW. Now look at what you can get a 1 ton dually truck rated at. What is amazing, all the trucks have come and gone, but my Avion C-11 is still around, even though now it is on a trailer.

[PenMan]

As a youngster back in the 50's, I remember camping with my dad. He built wood sides to put on the truck and put a tarp across them. That was his first camper. My brother and I slept in a tent. My dad moved to a real truck camper and then to several motorhomes over the years. He never pulled a trailer. My family camped in tents until just a few years ago when my back said "no more sleeping on the ground". We bought a hybrid and a few years later to the Open Range in my signature. I have no desire to move to a 5er or a motorhome due to the steps. We are very happy with out TT and plan to snowbird (maybe full time) starting next fall. I do have lots of good memories of those early years.

[The_Texan]

Started tent camping with the folks after WW2 and bought my 1st PU in early 60's. 1st TC was an Amerigo on a Dodge ¾t and it was the cats meow....

[SooperDaddy]

Old timer RVers? If you are referring to the Worlds Oldest RVer...it is Thomas Burnblatt of Pacoima California..at 115 years old. He started out as a teenager driving his parents Conestoga wagon out to California from Tennessee in the 1900's. He currently owns a 1931 Lazy Daze Class C motorhome with 2.7 million miles.





😉

[Farmerjon]

Started camping in the 50's boy scouts with pup tents camping in the mountains.
Our family had an umbrellaa tent that most of us stayed in and the car was a nash with fold down seats for others , I was young and we had 5 kids , I don't remember who slept where, but I was in the tent.
The 1st Rv experience was with my friends family and they took me with them all the time. They had a new 56 chevy station wagon wherte my freind and I slept and his parents stayed in a small home made trailer, about 16ft?
On my own I started with sleeping in the back of the pick up and tents,a borrowed camp triler, sleeping in the horse trailer and moved up to truck campers.
Yes We started out grosly overloading what ever vehicle we were pulling with and I would do every trick I could to build up the vehicle.
It is better now with the wonderful tow vehicles available today.

[Murphsmom]

We started RVing in 1969 after spending a disastrous tent camping trip up the Oregon coast with three young children (including a six month old baby). We were inundated with rain for more days than not and couldn't get that old canvas tent dried out in between. That was the summer of 1968.

When we got home, the hunt for the right travel trailer began. We ended up with a brand new 16' Aristocrat Lo-Liner, the model with the L shaped kitchen and a propane fridge. We towed it with the only "muscle car" we ever owned, a 1969 Buick GS400. We spent many miles and many years with that rig. The longest trip we took was a ten state month long trip through the West.

When the kids got big enough that the little trailer and the cramped back seat were just too small, we graduated to a 1979 Aljo 18', pulled by a short Dodge van. At that time we were doing a lot of boondocking in the SoCal desert and I shudder to think of how much weight we were hauling between the five of us and a couple of motorcycles on board.

Thanks for suggesting this trip down Memory Lane. I hadn't thought about those old rigs in a long time. Quite a difference from five in a 16 footer to two plus two fur kids in a Cougar 25RLS.

PS. Where in Idaho are you, OP?